Our Board

A Board of Directors provides strategic oversight and direction for the Committee. Membership of the Board represents all membership categories and includes;

Jodie van Deventer

Chief Executive Officer

Jodie van Deventer has had four successful careers: in the media, industry groups, the public sector and running her own business. A leader and strategic communicator with proven management skills and a commercial focus, Jodie is an expert in stakeholder engagement, branding and strategy development. In addition, she is on a number of Boards and Committees including Crime Stoppers SA. As the CEO of the Committee for Adelaide, she is committed to help make Adelaide a city of economic prosperity, cultural diversity, creativity and social vitality with a world-class built environment.

James Blackburn

Chair

James is a Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who leads its Private Client business in Adelaide. As a Chartered Accountant, he has a wealth of taxation, accounting and commercial experience having worked across diverse industry groups with privately owned groups, family owned and operated businesses, ASX listed companies, multi-nationals, and some of Australia’s leading entrepreneurs and iconic high net wealth family groups. James also leads PwCs work place giving team in South Australia and is a current board member of Hockey SA.

Ian Smith

Deputy Chair

Ian Smith co-founded Bespoke Approach in July 2008 and since then it has been working with major domestic and international businesses on a range of complex projects across Australia and internationally. Ian was a journalist before advising the South Australian Liberal Party from 1990 to 1992 and the Kennett Government in Victoria from 1992 to 1995.

In April 2013, Ian was appointed to the Northern Territory Government’s economic development panel and is a member of the NAB PrivateWealth Advisory Council. In addition, Ian is Chair of Jirrawun Arts, an East Kimberley arts organisation; and an advisory board member of the Big Issue; and an advisory board member of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes.

Matt Clemow

Deputy Chair

Matt has a widely-recognised understanding of both the needs of the public and the private sector in all aspects of transport, housing and urban development. As Chief of Staff to Minister Conlon, Matt had direct responsibility for the Government’s Office of Major Projects and Infrastructure, the Building Management division and the Urban Renewal Authority. He was previously responsible for the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Package (Social Housing) and the introduction of the Mullighan Child Protection reforms. As a Director of Property and Consulting Australia, Matt is a consultant to several city and country developers and the Community Housing Council of SA and a Director of Common Ground.

Demitra Ritossa

Demitra manages the Corporate Services legal team for SANTOS, which provides legal and strategic advice across all areas of operations including Drilling and Completions, Exploration and Subsurface, Engineering, Environment, Health and Safety, Climate Change and Sustainability, Human Resources, Liquids Marketing, Procurement andSantos’ GLNG Project. Demitra is a member of Santos’ Crisis Management Team and has a standing invitation to attend the Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee of the Santos Board.

Graham Brown

Graham Brown is CEO of Baptist Care SA, a leading provider of social support services that has a proud history of responding to the needs of socially and economically disadvantaged South Australians that spans over 100 years. He holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and has broad experience of community leadership, organisational development, policy advocacy, strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. Graham is Chair and member of several Purpose-Driven Boards and is an active participant innumerous community sector groups and networks. He has a passionate belief that people can achieve great things that are of real and enduring value, when they come together to share perspectives and experiences, articulate desired outcomes and envisage better ways to work together to pursue their shared vision.

Penny Gale

Penny is the General Manager, Engagement & Innovation at the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia (RAA), the state’s largest membership based organisation. Penny has strong networks across a range of industries and communities in South Australia. She has extensive experience in the private sector and member based organisations as well as local, state and federal government. Her skills and expertise include stakeholder relations, media and communications, advocacy, strategy and organisational development. Penny is a member of the Australian Automobile Association’s Public Policy Forum, a member of the Council for Economic Development of Australia (SA), on the board of Meals on Wheels and chair of their Future Meals on Wheels committee.

Lissa Van Camp

Lissa is a principal environmental consultant who is passionate about driving sustainable major projects in South Australia across the transport, resources and energy sectors. She has lectured in biological sciences at Flinders University, served as an Elected Member for Local Government and sits as an independent member for Council Development Assessment Panels.

Andrew Culley

Andrew Culley is the Managing Partner of Deloitte South Australia. Deloitte is the largest accounting firm in the world with over 700 partners and 7,000 employees in Australia. In Adelaide, Andrew oversees two offices, 20 partners and over 200 professional staff providing services aimed at enhancing the economic prosperity of South Australia across both the private and public sectors including Deloitte Private family services, digital strategy & implementation, cyber security and Deloitte Access Economics in addition to the traditional compliance services. Andrew has a Masters of Business Administration, University of South Australia and Bachelor of Economics (Accounting), University of Adelaide and is a member of the Australian Information Industry Association and the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Mena Muecke

After 20 years as an interior architect Mena joined husband Dr James Muecke in 2009 to champion blindness prevention with Sight for All. Mena has created several iconic fundraising events in this time and co-founded Vision 1000 a charitable membership calling upon a collective of people to assist in the fight against blindness. Mena plays a vital role in the marketing and publicity of Sight For All.

Lachlan Cooper

Lachlan Cooper is the state manager for Uber in South Australia where he oversees the Adelaide business. Uber is changing the way people think about transportation. For the people who drive with Uber, the app represents a flexible new way to earn money. For cities, Uber helps strengthen local economies and improve access to transportation. Lachlan has also worked as a management consultant for Partners in Performance and holds a Ph.D. in the molecular genetics of stem cell biology from The University of Adelaide.

Alison Surjan

Alison Surjan is the Director of Consulting Services at Morton Philips. Alison has worked with some of Australia’s biggest brands, and fastest and most progressive organisations that operate globally, helping to fill some of the State’s most important leadership positions. Alison has worked across both government and corporate organisations including, professional services and health, construction and commercial property, not for profit, and the engineering sectors.

Stephenie De Nichilo

Stephenie De Nichilo is the Head of Safety and Security at Santos. Stephenie leads a team that supports and builds safety capability within Santos’ operating assets and provides the corporate safety governance function. Stephenie has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mech), Masters of Business Administration, Graduate Certificate in Resources Management, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a member of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s Health and Safety Committee.

Colin Goodall

Past Immediate Chair

Colin Goodall is a company director and Chairman of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources Ltd and Golden Horde Ltd, and is non executive director of Osmoflo Holdings. He is former Chairman of Dana Petroleum and Parkmead Group.

Mr Goodall is a qualified chartered accountant and member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

An upstream oil & gas industry veteran, Mr Goodall joined BP in 1975, later becoming the first Chief of Staff within the BP Group. From 1995 to 1999 he served as Chief Financial Officer for BP Europe and then as BP’s senior representative in Russia.